Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Search

Refine search

Refine search

Access:
Content type:
Publication date:
Apply   From and To filters
Subject: Show more
Journals Show more
Publishers: Show more
Societies Show more
Series: Show more
Collections: Show more

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

6 results

  • 2 - “Effervescent Courage”: Virginia

  • from Part I - The 11th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment
  • Lesley J. Gordon, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
  • Book:
    Dread Danger
    Published online:
    07 November 2024
    Print publication:
    21 November 2024, pp 52-90

  • Summary

    Chapter 2 relates the shocking death of Elmer Ellsworth, the effect it had on his men, and the regiment’s first battle experience at Bull Run. Conflicting accounts emerged in the aftermath of the fight: some positive, heralding the Fire Zouaves’ reckless bravery; but many others were damning, painting a portrait of the men’s panic and fear.

  • 3 - “Soul Sick”: Virginia and New York

  • from Part I - The 11th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment
  • Lesley J. Gordon, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
  • Book:
    Dread Danger
    Published online:
    07 November 2024
    Print publication:
    21 November 2024, pp 91-136

  • Summary

    Chapter 3 assesses the effects of the defeat at Bull Run and how the Fire Zouaves became scapegoats for the Union loss. Despite efforts to defend themselves, the regiment imploded, formally disbanded in June 1862. Their demise demonstrated that brave men did not (and do not) always make effective and good soldiers.

Dread Danger
  • Cowardice and Combat in the American Civil War
  • Lesley J. Gordon
  • Published online:
    07 November 2024
    Print publication:
    21 November 2024
  • When confronted with the abject fear of going into battle, Civil War soldiers were expected to overcome the dread of the oncoming danger with feats of courage and victory on the battlefield. The Fire Zouaves and the 2nd Texas Infantry went to war with high expectations that they would perform bravely; they had famed commanders and enthusiastic community support. How could they possibly fail? Yet falter they did, facing humiliating charges of cowardice thereafter that cast a lingering shadow on the two regiments, despite their best efforts at redemption. By the end of the war, however, these charges were largely forgotten, replaced with the jingoistic rhetoric of martial heroism, a legacy that led many, including historians, to insist that all Civil War soldiers were heroes. Dread Danger creates a fuller understanding of the soldier experience and the overall costs and sufferings of war.

  • 2 - The Hiroshima Decision

  • Kenneth B. Pyle, University of Washington
  • Book:
    Hiroshima and the Historians
    Published online:
    30 May 2024
    Print publication:
    06 June 2024, pp 37-60

  • Summary

    Chapter 2 relates the shocking death of Elmer Ellsworth, the effect it had on his men, and the regiment’s first battle experience at Bull Run. Conflicting accounts emerged in the aftermath of the fight: some positive, heralding the Fire Zouaves’ reckless bravery; but many others were damning, painting a portrait of the men’s panic and fear.

Hiroshima and the Historians
  • Debating America's Most Controversial Decision
  • Kenneth B. Pyle
  • Published online:
    30 May 2024
    Print publication:
    06 June 2024
  • The decision to use atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki has been considered the most important – and perhaps most controversial - event in twentieth-century history. It ushered in many of the major developments of our time: the end of World War II, the beginning of the atomic age, the establishment of the American world order, and the start of the Cold War arms race. Kenneth B. Pyle illuminates both the complexities of the event itself and the debates among historians that continue today, as they wrestle with the moral issues of the decision, its necessity and its alternatives. While producing no final resolution to the controversy, historians have nevertheless advanced and deepened our understanding of this event. This accessible and thought-provoking analysis is a case study in the intricate nature of the historian's craft and a reminder of the value of historians in a free society.